Lateral Load Carrying Mechanism of Fibre Reinforced Concrete Pile in Sandy Soil

Abstract

AbstractIn the past few decades, pile foundation has become a sustainable solution for the offshore and onshore structure that is usually subjected to lateral loads. In order to sustain these high amounts of lateral loads, the tensile strength and the ductility of the pile need to be improved by adding some supplementary materials. In this study, behaviour of laterally loaded fibre reinforced concrete pile in sandy soil was investigated to study the lateral load carrying mechanism of fibre reinforced concrete pile through small-scaled laboratory model tests. The model study involves a monotonic loading system, a testing tank and an instrumented model concrete pile. To measure the bending moment and shaft resistance along the pile shaft, the pile was instrumented with a number of foil strain gauges. Five different fibre to concrete ratios by volume were used to fabricate the model piles. Then the performance of the fibre concrete pile was compared with the conventional concrete pile under static lateral loading. The results of the laboratory model test reveal that the fibre reinforced with concrete pile shows more ductility and provides higher lateral load carrying capacity compared to the conventional model concrete pile. Fibre reinforced concrete pile also reduces the bending moment of the model pile and provides more structural stability as compared to the conventional concrete pile.KeywordsFibre reinforced concrete pileSandy soilLateral load carrying mechanismBending moment